THE Chinese city of Shaoxing has celebrated the opening of the new 10.8km Line 2 of the city’s expanding metro network.
The line is served by a fleet of 11 four-car Type B2 metro trains, which offer a journey time of 17min 30sec on the line, which runs from Jinghu Hospital to Tandu Village with nine stations, serving the Jinghu New District and the Paojiang areas of the city.
Trains operate at eight-minute headways throughout the day. The first train departed at 12.00 on July 26, and services are now operating from 06.00-22.30 every day.
Construction of the line commenced in March 2020. Unlike Line 1, which opened in June 2021 and was extended by 26.8km to 47.1km in April 2022, Line 2 is entirely automated at Grade of Automation 4 (GoA4). The Type B2 metro trains have a maximum speed of 100km/h. The line interchanges with Line 1 at Meishan Square station, forming a Y-shaped network.
The city has restructured its bus network to serve the new metro line while Line 2 will serve venues for the Asian Games, which will be held in neighbouring Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8. Shaoxing is hosting events at five venues across the city.
Construction on the second phase of Line 2, which will run entirely underground and will extend the total length of the line to 26km, is due to start in September. The extension will run from Yuexing Road to Liangzhu Avenue with seven stations. Work is scheduled for completion in 2028.
The city is planning to build an eight-line, 278km network by 2035, expanding this to 11 lines and 436km by 2050.
Shaoxing is located in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, southeast of Hangzhou. The city was estimated to have a population of 2.7 million people in 2022.
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